The following items were verified: same title and author name(s); same location(s) for research; consistent study designs, follow-up durations, and numbers of withdrawals; and no major differences in study results data.
This may have slight implications on the power of our study, since we used the same thresholds for binary traits in both sexes, but this is unlikely to have a major effect on study results and conclusions.
Such a risk may be higher in the absence of co-registered CT, or in cases of PET/CT mis-registration, and can have major effect on study results, in particular when SUVmax is used to assess response.
One major problem for integrating study results into a common body of knowledge is the relatively limited measurements applied, and the relation of the widely used self-reporting methods with more objective measurements, such as biophysical ones.
29 The major limitation of this study results from the lack of quantitative exposure assessment during the SICs.
The major limitation of this study results from the absence of reliable prospective data from an established, timely surveillance system designed to monitor adverse events resulting from vaccination.
The second major limitation of this study results from the 'ever-shrinking' response rates over recent years within the survey technique of Random Digit Dial (RDD) telephone surveys.
34 35 For these reasons, we think unrecorded over the counter drug use is unlikely to have had a major effect on the study results.
Therefore, whilst we cannot completely rule out the possibility of response bias, it is unlikely to have had a major impact on our study results.
A major strength of our study results from its being based in a single centre with the same two cardiologists evaluating and categorising all patients, using consistent criteria and furthermore consistent management routines.
